Testing: The Wishing Well's homemade scrapple

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Testing: The Wishing Well's homemade scrapple

POSTED: Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 10:17 PM

Filed Under: Testing | Weird Regional Foods

Photo | Juliana Reyes

In honor of National Scrapple Day yes, today is National Scrapple Day we sent Juliana Reyes to test out a very local rendition of the regional favorite. Carmen Cappello loves scrapple. "The king of all breakfast meats," the chef and owner of Bella Vista's Wishing Well (767 S. Ninth St.) calls it. The Philly native loves it so much that during his stint in Georgia, where scrapple is nowhere to be found, he started making it for the people of A-Town at the Lamplighter Cafe. Now that he's back, Cappello serves his homemade scrapple on the Wishing Well's signature SHAME burger, plus in an omelete. And you can now buy it by the pound from the restaurant, as well as at the nearby Di Bruno Brothers (930 S. Ninth St.). Last week, I stopped at the Well to try some of Cappello's scrapple. I'll be honest I'd never tasted it before. Though I'm not one to discriminate against mystery meats (I'm a shameless fan of Spam), whenever scrapple comes up on a menu, people always seem to be wrinkling their noses. Cappello's explanation for the stigma? Fear of the unknown. They don't know the history behind scrapple, he says, citing its ties to the Pennsylvania Dutch. If Art in the Age can make old-school Lancaster County favorites trendy (see SNAP and ROOT), why can't the Wishing Well do something similar? (Though I'm guessing SCRAP won't be AITA's next boutique liquor of choice.)

Photo | Juliana Reyes

Cappello served me his scrapple with a microlettuce from the local Blue Moon Acres (Cappello favors local ingredients; he uses locally sourced offal to make the base of his scrapple, too). The two square blocks were slightly alien to me, but scary? Nah. It tasted excellent: Crusty on the outside and crumbly and tender on the inside, with hints of rosemary and thyme to round out the flavor. It was especially tasty with a splash of Worcestershire sauce, a glass of Terrapin Rye Pale Ale, currently on tap, and It's Always Sunny on TV in the background. The chef says he likes to make the stuff the old-fashioned way. It's a two-hour-long process, involving cooking the scrapple in pork jus and adding polenta to thicken it. "And, of course," says Cappello, "I put love into it." If you pick up some of Cappello's scrapple to cook at home, prep is simple: Just dust with flour and fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Cappello suggests serving it with his pickled mushrooms, also available by the jar at the Wishing Well. Who knows, you might just become a convert.

MaltyDog

Posted 2010-11-10 11:55:42

i like my scrapple with maple syrup!!!!

chefe

Posted 2010-11-10 10:00:15

All of the pork for the scrapple made at The Wishing Well comes from Leidy's Pork.

Tweets that mention Testing: The Wishing Wells homemade scrapple :: Meal Ticket :: Philadelphia City Paper -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-11-09 18:21:31

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rich Pawlak, Meal Ticket. Meal Ticket said: It's National Scrapple Day! In honor of this great occasion, Juliana Reyes tests the Wishing Well's homemade version: http://ow.ly/377D5 [...]

Holly Moore

Posted 2010-11-09 17:30:57

Sounds great, but where does he get the hog scrapings from the slaughter house floor?

Honey

Posted 2010-12-26 17:35:29

Looks yummy! Can anyone share the recipe? :)

Posted by Juliana Reyes @ 10:17 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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